Red Seal primarily recruits for industrial and infrastructure companies; we find it is rare to be able to contact people at their desks. Due to fast paced lifestyles it is even rarer to find people at home at night. The evolution of technology has made it easier for people who are working in plants, field operations, and remote sites, whether they are management or field technicians to be mobile.
When I started recruiting cell phones were rare and faxed resumes were the standard way of initial communication with candidates. How things have changed…companies rarely post fax numbers and we see cell phone numbers and email address on almost every resume. This shift happened gradually but we are also seeing another shift as mobile phones get better at web browsing and are increasingly being used for day to day tasks.
Several years ago I had my first mobile candidate contact me through his smart phone from Fort McMurray, where he was working as a heavy equipment technician. He couldn’t send me a resume but we could chat about his experience. Now we are seeing more and more people browse our website everyday on mobile devices.
Currently we have about over 50% mobile users visiting our website on IPhones and a smaller number of Blackberry, Android (Google) and Windows users. This is bound to increase as 64% of Canadians owned a cell phone in 2008 and more are buying “smart phones” that allow them to browse websites and send emails.
We will continue to make our website mobile friendly and enable people to contact us using the most convenient method for them. If you are a communication or power lineman working on the road, or a civil engineer working on an oil sands construction project don’t hesitate to drop us an email or give us a call.